Fie! Valentine's Son!
by RStrickman
Summary: Chapter 5 of COLS, rewritten in Shakespearean verse. Enjoy. (Disclaimer: This is not written for profit or publication, nor do I claim ownership of these characters or this chapter. It is posted solely for the users of FanFiction, for entertainment only.)


**(Disclaimer: This is not for publication or profit, or any use except to be read by users of FanFiction, for entertainment. This is meant to be a parody, not a plagiarism, and I claim no ownership of these characters nor this series.)**

**Act 5**

_(CLARY's bedroom. Enter CLARY, asleep. Enter JACE.)_

CLARY (_waking_): O, Simon! I had a dreadful dream!

That my lost love, Jace, and my despis'd brother,

Sebastian, whose name is poison on my tongue,

Stood upon a lake of ice, like two angels that demonic were,

And I scarce knew which the more fearsome was.

Then, Simon—but soft!

Thou art not my Simon!

JACE: Nay, but I am something better, I warrant,

Thy lost love, returned by love,

Thy Jace.

CLARY: Jace! Why dost thou come

Unto a maiden's bedchamber?

JACE: O, my Clary! Wherefore this coldness?

Should I not expect more joy?

More, "God be praised!" More "Hallelujah!"?

After all, 'tis not every day

That thy true love rises from the grave.

CLARY: I already apprised was

Of thy continued life. I saw thee in the library with—

JACE: Sir Mustard?

CLARY: The dread Sebastian!

JACE: I knew thou wert there.

CLARY: And yet, for weeks and weeks,

Thou hast let me believe thee dead!

Fie! 'Tis a thing unforgivable

To lead a lady who truly lov'st thee

Into such an error!

JACE: Believe me, Clary, though it tore out my heart,

Thrust seraph blades through my soul, yet I had no choice.

Too dangerous 'twas. If I had told thee the truth,

Betwixt me and the Council,

Thou wouldst have had to choose. Wouldst thou have told them

And seen me hunted down? Or wouldst thou have kept the secret

And as an accomplice and a traitor branded been?

'Twas as a test of thy love

That I saw thee in the library and said nothing.

Hadst thou to the Council running gone

With tales of my falseness and base treachery, I would know

That thou love me not, and will betray

Any confidence I give you. But thou dost love me—true?

CLARY: In truth, I know not.

Who art thou?

JACE: I am myself: thy Jace.

And I love thee still. _(He kisses her.)_

CLARY _(aside)_: Chaste Dian, give me courage

His caresses to resist! Though he comes in likeness

Of my most belov'd Jace,

The boy I saved from death, whom I defied an angel for,

Something is amiss. But, O!

Cupid's darts delve deep!

O, Jace! In my arms I must you keep! _(Embraces _JACE._)_

_(Enter _SEBASTIAN.)

JACE: Well, good Sebastian! Thou may'st have

The worst timing since the French emperor

Invaded Muscovy in winter's icy blast! Why dost thou come here?

Canst thou not see

That we are occupied?

SEBASTIAN: Aye, and more pleasurably, 'twould seem,

Than any land by conqueror was!

But that virgin thou defil'st my sister is, and I needs must protest

When she is invaded by French, Muscovite, or Shadowhunter.

JACE: My apologies, Sebastian.

Passion's promptings proved too strong.

CLARY _(to _SEBASTIAN_)_: Vile wretch! Get thou gone!

SEBASTIAN: Now, should so fair a maiden,

Who a sister dutiful should be,

Speak so to a brother?

CLARY: Good Sir Magnus should

A coatrack have left thee!

SEBASTIAN: O, that day thou remember'st? As do I:

When we rode together on a horse's back,

The sly sorcerer to see. I remember also

The burnt ruins of thy mother's house

And thy sweet ignorance that day. Mayhap we could do it all again

And, verily, quite soon.

CLARY _(aside)_: More than ruins I remember:

A vile, incestuous kiss! I remember also,

By a destructive fire's hellish light, this same Sebastian,

In his villainy, taunted Jace

With that same kiss, and Jace nearly ran him through.

Yet now? Jace does nothing! Amused he looks

As though 'tis all a jest betwixt friends, and mildly annoyed

That his friend—how perverse a word

In relation to Sebastian!—should interrupt him!

_(To _SEBASTIAN_) _I care not what thou think'st

Nor what thou desire. Thou art not my brother.

Thou a murderer art.

SEBASTIAN: Murderer? But did not our father,

Traitorous Valentine, carry that same title?

Yet our father he remained. All the blood upon his hands

Could not wash away the blood he shared with us.

Good Jace: I hate to interrupt thee

When thou with private pleasures art preoccupied,

But I will say plainly: this hallway dulls my spirits.

I cannot the lights turn on,

For fear of discovery, but the darkness which hides me

Hides also any interest.

JACE: Prithee: five minutes give.

_(Exeunt _SEBASTIAN_.)_

CLARY: What wonder here?

By the devil's teat!

JACE: Such language, Fray,

Ill becomes you. Be at peace.

CLARY: What, thrown with my brother, and talk of peace!

Didst thou not hear his words? He spoke of the fateful day

When he took me to the ruins of my mother's home in Idris

And laid his lips on mine in lover's fashion,

Knowing full well I his sister was! Good Jace?

Dost thou understand my words?

JACE: Dear Clary, if thou desir'st not thy brother

To wait in the hall while we our love express,

I full well understand. I did not _plan _to kiss you.

It simply a good idea seemed.

CLARY: Confusion, like Typhon's rude winds,

Seems to buffet my head about. Reason flees

And stern bewilderment seeks her place. Jace, if Jace thou art!

First thou disappear'st,

Taking my heart and near my life with thee,

And now you return, in Sebastian's vile company,

As though thou wert to the baker gone, and returned

In the course of a day. Didst thou think I would feel nothing?

JACE: I told thee, Clary: 'twas a test.

I know 'twas difficult for thee—

CLARY: Difficult! Hark! "Difficult," he says!

Tests, sweet Jace, are difficult,

Obstacle courses obstacles present,

But thy disappearance, Jace,

Near took the life from me!

And what of Alec? Isabelle? Maryse, who a mother

Hath been to thee? Didst thou not think of them?

JACE: Ah, yes, I meant to ask: do they search for me?

I confess, I was besieged by disappointment

Not to see pictures of myself posted 'round the city,

With the legend: _This we seek: one beautiful boy_

_ Of hot and untried years, who answers to "Jace" or, perchance, "Hot Stuff."_

CLARY _(aside)_: He has run mad! I saw a strange expression on his visage,

As though my words, while lighting on him,

Yet made no impression, as a butterfly landing upon a stone.

I fear some vile sorcery, such as Lilith cast.

_(To _JACE_)_: Mind thy tongue!

JACE: Dost thou not think

"Hot Stuff" descriptive is? "Sweet Cheeks," then, perchance,

Or "Love Crumpet." After all, my lineage hails

From England's fair isle.

CLARY: Fie! Get thee gone!

JACE: Nay, sweet Clarissa: I will be serious. I have come this night

To beg thee fly away with me.

CLARY: Whence?

JACE: That I cannot tell. Come with me—

And good Sebastian—

And I will uncover all.

CLARY: Nay, for the last time I accompanied thee

To a location undisclosed, I ended up

In the middle of a demon's ceremony.

JACE: That Lilith was, not me!

CLARY: And who art thou? The Jace Lightwood,

Whom I knew and loved, would not in the same room be

As Jonathan Morgenstern, and let him leave alive!

JACE: That would be as a serpent swallowing its own tail,

For dear Sebastian and I are bound

Like two cherries on a single stem.

Cut him and I bleed.

CLARY: "Bound?" What mean thou?

JACE: Clary, please believe: this bigger is

Than mere childish grudge, hatched in the nursery

Between two unhappy children.

We are now men, and Sebastian hath a plan,

To bring light to the world, turn back the tide

Of foul demon kind that threatens to extinguish all.

If thou wouldst let me explain—

CLARY: He killed young Max. Your little brother,

As sweet and pure a boy as e'er breathed,

He foully murdered!

JACE: That an accident was. And Sebastian

Just as much my brother is.

CLARY: Nay, he is mine own! And how I wish

That were not true. He should have perished

Ere he was born!

JACE: How canst thou say

So foul a thing? Perhaps, Clary,

Things not so simple are! 'Twas a war, dear Clary,

And innocents were hurt. Full of wrath was I then,

But now I know that Sebastian,

Would never harm of his own design

Those whom I love. A greater cause he serves.

Sometimes there collateral damage is—

CLARY: Curse my ears for hearing

So evil a thing! Did my Jace

Just call his brother "damage collateral?"

JACE: Thou heed me not! This

Important is!

CLARY: Just as foul Valentine believed

His scheme for blood, death, domination of Earth's sphere,

Important was?

JACE: Valentine was a fool, and wrongheaded besides.

Correct he was, that the Clave was corrupt as Judas—

Selling itself for thirty pieces—

But Valentine erred on how to correct that error.

But Sebastian speaks with truth, his soul

Filled with honesty. If thou wilt but listen to us—

CLARY: Fie! "Us?" Dear Lord! That e'er such a day should come

When Jace would speak with Sebastian

In one voice, one thought, one desire! "Us!" The good Earth

Tilts upon her axis, the stars fly

From their spheres, and angels gape

To hear such a thing as "us!" My knife almost

I could take up, and use't too

On thee!

JACE: Dost thou not love me still, dear Clary?

CLARY: Jace Lightwood I loved;

Thee, I know not.

_(Offstage, a cry.)_

_ (aside) _My mother 'tis! Her voice full of fear!

Sebastian she has glimpsed, I'll warrant.

This seeming-Jace,

Full of disjointed half-truths, gibbering verses

Of madness, I leave

Right gladly, and with ne'er a glance behind!

_(Exeunt _CLARY_.)_

JACE: Good Clary, stay!

_(Exeunt _JACE_.)_

_(The living room. Enter _JOCELYN and SEBASTIAN._)_

JOCELYN: Methinks I see a phantom here before me,

Or else a hideous fiend, come from the Void's darkest pit

To torment me with this dread likeness. In you, I see the face

Of my despis'd husband: the eyes, the hair, the mien

Of my tormentor. And yet,

Thou art a boy in whose eyes

Hell's fires rage, nothing human at all.

The eyes are the windows to the soul, and now I see—

As I saw, when thou wert born—

That thou hast no soul at all.

By these eyes, blacker than Tartarus, I believe thee—

(_Enter _CLARY _and _JACE.)

-Jonathan.

SEBASTIAN: "Jonathan?" Nay, I'll not be Jonathan.

"Jonathan," thou call'st me, when thou didst kiss

My infant brow, before thou didst set out to betray

Thy husband, the Circle, and me most of all.

"Jonathan," my father call'st me, when he set out

To summon Raziel, and left me behind to die

On my own brother's sword. Nay, not "Jonathan!"

And not thy son, nor Valentine's,

But "Sebastian" I'll be, myself alone.

JOCELYN: I believed thee dead!

I saw thy bones to ashes turned.

SEBASTIAN: If thou wert a mother true—

Dear, kind, and loving—

Thou would'st have known I was alive.

Do not our mothers, all our lives,

Carry with them the keys to our souls?

But thou scorned me,

And threw mine away.

CLARY _(aside)_: O, Jupiter, how I long to rush

To my fainting mother's side!

But there is some darkness here, some terrible thing,

Like a battle between two gods,

And I, watching aghast,

Cannot interfere.

SEBASTIAN: Art thou not pleased to see me, Mother?

Am I not what thou would'st wish in a son?

Strong and handsome, and bearing the likeness

Of thy husband dear?

JOCELYN: I'll not believe thy prating lies, thy serpent's smile;

What dost thou want, Jonathan?

SEBASTIAN: Why, what do all men desire?

What do they strive for, yearn for,

Move mountains and cross oceans for?

Summon angels, defy the gods,

Strike deals with devils?

One thing only: what they are owed.

I am no different from other men in this wise,

And so I desire this: the Morgenstern legacy.

JOCELYN: The Morgenstern legacy

Blood and devastation is:

Ruined cities, orphaned babes,

Wailing endless and oceans of tears!

I rid myself of "Morgenstern,"

And neither I nor my daughter can be counted as thy kin.

Go, Jonathan; I'll not tell the Clave thou wert here.

_(To _JACE.) Nor thee. If they knew

Thou wert this villain's ally, they

Would kill thee too.

JACE: Thou care'st for my life?

JOCELYN: Nay, but I care for my daughter,

Whose life and happiness,

The sunshine of all her joy,

Depend on thy continued life.

The Law would have thy life

But hard it is—too hard.

Hard enough to grind the very spirit from my child

And kill a pretty innocent like thee.

Perhaps thou canst be saved.

_(To_ SEBASTIAN) But thou—O, thou:

Flesh of my flesh, son born from demon-poisoned womb

That wanted only to love thee,

My Jonathan—'tis much too late. _(Threatens _SEBASTIAN _with _kindjal._)_

SEBASTIAN: I look just like him, don't I?

Thy departed husband, thy most hated enemy,

My father, Valentine. That is why

Thou look'st at me with such venom'd hate.

JOCELYN: Nay: though thou resemble Valentine,

Thou look'st like thou ever did, from the moment

That my mother laid thee in my arms,

A new-born babe, and thou lifted thy lids

To reveal no human thing, but only evil demonic,

Lunatic and cruel. I am sorry, Jonathan.

SEBASTIAN: Wherefore?

JOCELYN: That I did not take thy life at birth! _(Threatens him.)_

SEBASTIAN: Oh, is that what thou desire'st?

My death? Then take it, by all means!

Commit the sin of Cronus: eat thy young.

Come: kill me, I'll not stop thee.

JACE: Sebastian! 'Ware!

CLARY _(aside)_: What horror this, on a night of horrors!

Did my sweet Jace express

Concern, brotherly love

For this monster? But hark! Now my mother,

As strong as the Amazon queen who defended Troy,

Comes to take Sebastian's foul life!

Her knife lies at his heart!

SEBASTIAN: Do it, Mother.

Drive in the blade!

Or canst thou? Thou couldst have murdered me

When I a weakling newborn was, helpless and at thy mercy.

But thou did not. Perhaps thou know'st

The immutable law, which states

That no mother can have love conditional

For her own child. Perhaps, if thou lov'st me enough,

Thou couldst save me.

JOCELYN: Thy mouth, Jonathan, is filled with naught but poisoned lies.

Like an actor on a stage,

Full of prating jokes, grand speeches, protests of undying love,

That blow away when th' player

Washes off his paint, puts away his costume

And dons his true self,

So thou art: an actor, playing a role.

Thou feel'st not

The hurt nor the love that thou express.

Thy father taught thee to feign humanity,

As an heathen priest would teach his parrot

Human words, to fool the gullible. The parrot does not understand

And nor do thee. God knows how I wish

That thou didst. But there only evil is

And but one conclusion! _(Attacks _SEBASTIAN, _wounds him and _JACE._)_

JACE: Ow!

CLARY _(aside)_: What new evil is this?

For when my mother,

Mov'd by righteous wrath, did injure Sebastian

With a cut upon his chest, so too did such a cut

Appear upon Jace! 'Tis true: they are bound

By some vile sorcery, the likes of which

I cannot fathom now. Oh, vile fate,

My only love chained to my only hate!

(_To _JOCELYN) Mother! Halt! _(Moves between _JOCELYN and SEBASTIAN.)

JOCELYN: Clary, move from my way.

I must slay him!

SEBASTIAN: How sweet! A little sister

Defending her belov'd brother!

CLARY: Stop thy mouth, serpent! 'Tis not thee I defend,

But rather my Jace. Mother, I prithee desist

For if thou slaughter this evil wretch,

Thou slaughter also my love! His blood already flows.

My mother, please.

JOCELYN: O, my Clary.

SEBASTIAN: Gracious, 'tis awkward.

'Twill be interesting to see

How thou wilt resolve this dilemma!

A drama, I think, worthy of audience.

After all, I've no reason to leave.

_(Enter _LUKE, _with gun_.)

LUKE: On the contrary, Valentine's son,

Thou hast ample reason.

This a Winchester twelve-gauge pump-action shotgun is.

We in the pack use't

To put down wolves that have gone rogue.

Even if I dare not kill thee,

I can blow thy leg off, son of Valentine!

SEBASTIAN: "Son of Valentine?" "Valentine's son?"

Is that really

How thou regard me? Hast thou not thought

That, had circumstances been elsewise,

Thou might'st have been my godfather?

LUKE: Had circumstances been elsewise,

Thou might'st have been human.

SEBASTIAN: The same may be said of thee,

Werewolf.

(LUKE _threatens _SEBASTIAN.)

CLARY: Good Luke! Hold!

JACE: Nay, he will not hold! Sebastian, if thou wilt not defend thyself,

Then I must do it for thee! _(Attacks _LUKE, _they fight, shotgun goes off. _JACE _takes shotgun and throws it.)_ Now, Luke, thou must attend!

(LUKE _strikes _JACE.)

CLARY _(aside)_: O, that this should happen! That my stepfather,

Who hath been to me more a father

Than Valentine e'er was,

Should strike me! But, no! 'Tis Jace he strikes!

I scarce can the difference tell, so great

Is the shock. Oh, Luke, gentlest of men and kindest!

Truly, this night is evil,

And evil is he who such evil begets!

(SEBASTIAN _draws a knife, stabs _LUKE.)

More evil he engenders! My beloved Luke

Lies bleeding on the floor! Now is no time

To think of niceties, of what harm

My actions might cause. Death to he who deals such death!

(_To _SEBASTIAN) Thou fiend! Hold a while, and we'll decide,

Which sibling's wrath is greater! _(Attacks _SEBASTIAN._)_

SEBASTIAN _(aside)_: What little bird is this

That flaps its soft wings against my shoulder?

'Tis a little body, and my sister its owner!

A pretty thing, but vicious,

And fearless, the light of dauntless bravery

Flaming in her eyes, even as her attack

Barely injures me—my body, at least. My soul, however,

She has long since attacked and conquered

And never known it. I confess, my fascination grows.

JACE: Enough! Sebastian, our injuries grow worse

The longer we remain. 'Tis time to retreat. (_Seizes _SEBASTIAN.)

SEBASTIAN: Release me! I would see

How this plays out.

JACE: Nay! 'Tis past time that we flew.

_(aside) _Farewell, my Clary, but only farewell,

For I shall soon return to look once more on thee.

Mine eyes cannot get enough of thy fair countenance

And thy harshest word is music to mine ears.

As the needle of a compass

Points e'er toward the northern star, so my heart

Points e'er toward thee. Farewell, my love,

'Til next we meet again!

SEBASTIAN: Aye, 'til next we meet!

(_Exeunt _JACE _and _SEBASTIAN. JOCELYN _throws _kindjal _after them, misses._)

JOCELYN: Curse my aim! Now they've fled!

Clary, help me here with Luke.

That dagger silver was,

Which is poison to my beloved's kind.

He'll not heal as he should.

(LUKE _moans_.) Dear Luke, be still. Clary, fetch some towels

From the bathroom, to stop the blood.

(_Exeunt _CLARY, _returns with towels. _JOCELYN _binds them on _LUKE'S _wounds.)_

CLARY: He breathes. Thank the gods,

That he is yet alive!

JOCELYN: Alive,

But injured grievous. I have called his pack—

Whose soldiers loyal are—

And asked their help. When they arrive, we all must leave.

For, as a murderer foul, who, his conscience tearing at him,

Returns e'er to the scene of his loathed crime,

So shall Jace return for thee, my daughter.

CLARY: Thou dost not know that!

JOCELYN: I do. A few fleeting years,

I was married to Valentine Morgenstern, and in those years,

I learned to hate him, betray him,

Burn his dreams around him, and still,

After fifteen years of separation, he returned for me,

Passion and possession raging

Like a storm within his heart.

So Valentine was, and so Jace is,

And so the Morgenstern men e'er were.

They will drain oceans, rip the skies,

Burn down worlds,

To obtain what they believe is theirs.

CLARY _(aside)_: This is all my fault.

Passion possessed Valentine?

So it possessed me, when, as a fainting maiden,

I allowed Jace to love me in the shades of failing night,

Ignoring all good sense, the safety

Of these my beloved parents. And the result?

That Luke lies bleeding on the floor

And the foul Sebastian hath made his way

With Jace his happy companion. Jace is not Valentine?

But is he not? And am I?

JOCELYN: Get thy things, Clary.

Take only what thou canst carry.

To this house we'll not return.

(_Exeunt _CLARY, JOCELYN _and _LUKE.)


End file.
